A RARE PAIR OF CHINESE BLUE AND WHITE 'G' MARKED 'LADIES' BOTTLE VASES

A RARE PAIR OF CHINESE BLUE AND WHITE 'G' MARKED 'LADIES' BOTTLE VASES
KANGXI 1662-1722

Each of hexagonal section, painted with six cartouches reserved against a cracked-ice ground, depicting ladies at leisure in fenced gardens, antiques and scholars with their attendants holding qins, the necks decorated with bands of lappets and ruyi-heads, all raised on high splayed feet, each with a 'G' mark to the base, 20.1cm. (2)

Provenance: from the collection of the 9th Marquis of Waterford, Henry Nicholas de la Poer (b.1958) of Curraghmore, County Waterford.

Cf. Sotheby's New York, Cross-Currents in America: The Wolf Family Collection, 21st April 2023, lot 750 for an almost identical pair of Kangxi hexagonal 'ladies' vases with 'G' marks. See also the Lady Lever Art Gallery, Liverpool, collection no. LL 6450-51-52 for other related examples.

Although 'G' marks have not been identified with any particular person, it has been suggested that the mark was used to distinguish pieces made for a specific European trader, or perhaps for a member of the Dutch East India Company. Porcelain with this mark is usually of a high standardised quality, reinforcing the view that 'G' marks may suggest these items were custom made for an individual. Christian Jörg in his work, Chinese Ceramics in the Collection of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam: The Ming and Qing Dynasties, supports this theory citing the example of so-called Japanese 'apothecary bottles' which also make use of a set of initials encircled on the body. See also RL Hobson, The Later Ceramic Wares of China, London, p.143 for a further discussion of these marks.

清康熙 青花開光仕女博古圖六棱瓶 一對
來源：愛爾蘭沃特福德克拉莫爾第九代沃特福德侯爵Henry Nicholas de la Poer (1958年生) 的收藏。